The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly cannot carry out the audit of the apex judiciary as according to Article 68 of the constitution, parliament cannot discuss the conduct of judges.
According to a report presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, three existing and twelve retired judges of the Supreme Court received two residential plots each worth millions of rupees in expensive sectors of the federal capital. The Supreme Court (SC) refused to provide audit report details to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) saying the parliament cannot review judges’ conduct.
This was said in a reply written by the Registrar Supreme Court to the Chairman Public Accounts Committee with the consent of full court bench of the Supreme Court in which it is mentioned that the constitution prohibits PAC to call any official including the registrar of the apex judiciary, however the president, being the head of the state, has the authority to decide about the consultative sphere of the Supreme Court, so the committee should consult the President of Pakistan.
‘If the committee is interested in a formal court order, it should approach the president,’ the letter said.
The letter referred to Article 68 which said: “No discussion shall take place in [Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] with respect to the conduct of any Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court in the discharge of his duties”. The PAC, during the chairmanship of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had sent the letter to the SC asking for the audit report. The NA body, under the instructions of present Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan, made the letter public it received recently that had been issued by the SC’s full court.
According to the PAC report, as many as 21 judges of the apex court, including Justice (r) Khalilur Rehman Ramday, and around 214 bureaucrats received residential plots in G-12 and G-13 sectors of Islamabad. Justice Ramday was among 15 judges of the higher judiciary and around 56 bureaucrats who received two plots each in Islamabad. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) presented lists of 21 judges before the committee, saying all judges who acquired one or more plots in Islamabad were either sitting or retired judges of the SC. The lists showed that around 15 judges acquired two or more plots in Islamabad. The name of judges who received residential plots include Justice (r) Mansoor Ahmed, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Muhammad Javed Buttar, Justice Syed Ashad, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Falak Sher, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Syed Zahid Hussain, Justice Chaudhary Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Mohammed Sair Ali, Justice Anwar Zaheer Ali and Justice Khliji Arif Hussain. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry did not receive any plot, according to the list. The PAC chairman said the judge’s plots issue resembled the NRO case.